We Feel Like Kings
by FerociousxXWallpaper
Summary: This is just an A Rocket to the Moon / The Maine story I started. It's starring me and my best friend Ruby. Lame, I know. Haha. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Stepping out of the cab, Lauren squinted up at the bright sky. Ah, what a change this was. The sunshine- that she was used to. She'd lived in Arizona for three years now and they were rarely lacking when it came to sunshine. A cold breeze ruffled her hair and she regretted leaving her coat in her suitcase. This cold was what she wasn't used to, but it felt invigorating.

She reached for her wallet in the large tote bag she had slung over her shoulder and smiled at the cab driver; a short, hairy man with bad teeth but friendly eyes, who was, at the present moment, unloading their suitcases from the trunk. "Thanks so much," she said as he handed her suitcase to her and she handed him the cab fair plus a generous tip. He bobbed his head, smiled graciously, and was soon back in his cab.

"Isn't this exciting!" Lauren beamed at her sulking companion, hoping to coax her out of the mood she was in. Ruby hadn't said a single word in the last four hours, and from the tight set of her lips it was obvious she had no intent of starting now. "Come on! We're in _New York City_! For three whole days! At an extravagant hotel! At least give me a smile."

"How can I smile?" Ruby asked, her voice so low it was nearly inaudible. Her lower lip trembled slightly. "This was supposed to be my..honeymoon." She choked out the last word with obvious effort.

"Don't you dare start crying again," Lauren warned, unable to keep the venom out of her voice. "He doesn't deserve one single one of your tears."

She couldn't help the onslaught of memories her friend's sadness brought on. Ruby's excitement when, during their Sophomore year at ASU, she'd ran into Mike, the guy she'd been obsessed with all through High School. He was in Arizona only for a few months for a job, but ended up staying for her. Lauren was a tad disgruntled at first when, at the end of the semester, Ruby moved out of their shared dorm and into his apartment, but she couldn't begrudge her her happiness and had ended up finding an incredible apartment of her own. She remembered Ruby's uncontainable joy when she'd run screaming and unannounced into that incredible apartment one night, shoving her engagement ring-clad hand in her face. Her own excitement as she helped her shop for a dress, flowers, invitations, a cake. The hours after grueling hours of planning her best friend's wedding. And then, the night before, the note Ruby'd found. Mike was gone, back to Ohio, back to his ex, Becky.

Lauren shook her head to clear her thoughts. She didn't want to think about any of that. Plastering a cheerful, if feigned, smile to her face she linked her arm in Ruby's. "Now, quit being Debbie Downer. The trip's already paid for, and we're going to enjoy it. Two sexy, single ladies, livin' it up in New York City!"

Ruby couldn't help but crack a small smile. "Sexy?" she scoffed, eying the sweatpants she wore for the trip. "Yeah right, Lauren."

"Okay, so maybe we aren't supermodels, but that doesn't mean we can't live it up in New York City just as well as that girl." A tall, pretty brunette gave her a dirty look as she pointed at her, but kept walking.

Ruby's smile widened and Lauren felt a small sense of accomplishment. Maybe this whole trip wouldn't be a disaster, after all.

* * *

"Dude, what the heck? Why did you book us a room at such a fancy hotel?"

Justin walked in and Eric looked up from where he sat, cross-legged on the bed, playing with the fancy soaps he had found in the bathroom. "What?" He quirked his head to the left a little, grinning at him. "Can't a guy want to spend a romantic weekend in a nice hotel with his best friend without getting the third degree these days?"

"Halvo, you need to quit being so gay." Andrew laughed, walking in behind Justin. "Justin's doesn't like you like that."

Justin scanned the room, his eyes widening as he took in the flat-screen tv, two queen beds, each with its own private mountain of decorative pillows, ornate lamps, and heavy brocade curtains. He stopped at the large, cushy couch near the glass doors to the balcony where, on a beautiful glass table, sat a complimentary fruit basket."Can we afford this?!?!"

Eric was a little taken aback by the disapproving looks on his band-mates' faces. He knew that this hotel was, admittedly, more expensive than the ones they usually stayed at (okay, like 8 times more expensive), but he'd thought it would be a fun treat for them. He had expected them to be...Well... Excited, grateful, surprised, even- Anything but angry.

He shrugged guiltily. "I don't know...Nick gave me his credit card and said to get us a room. He didn't say there was a price limit..."

"ERIC!" Justin and Andrew yelled in unison. "Nick's gonna kick your ass!"

"Pfffft. He can't handle this jelly!" Eric said, trying to lighten the mood.

"It's not funny. He'll be seriously pissed." Andrew told him.

"How much did you spend on this?!" Justin's eyes were still wide with disbelief.

Trying to hide the hurt on his face, Eric stood up. "You know what? Screw you guys. I was just trying to be nice and get a room everybody would be comfortable in. You don't have to be dicks about it." Slamming the door behind him, he stalked out of room 342.


	2. Chapter 2

Lauren sighed yet again, watching her best friend from across the hotel room. "Let's catch a show."

"I'm not in the mood for a show," Ruby replied listlessly.

"Come on! We can get dressed up and--"

"I don't want to get dressed up."

"Okay, then we'll just go out to dinner. Someplace casual."

"I'm really not in the mood to go out..."

It had been this way for nearly forty minutes now. Lauren shooting out ideas and Ruby, just as quickly, shooting them down.

"Fine!" Lauren huffed, jumping up. "If you absolutely _insist_ on keeping yourself locked up in this hotel room all night, I'll let you. But you're not getting out of having a good time!" She picked up her suitcase, dumping it open on the bed.

Ruby raised an eyebrow, watching her rummage through her belongings with growing interest. "What are you doing?"

Lauren lifted her makeup bag out of the mess and smiled triumphantly. "Getting ready to give you a makeover, of course!"

Ruby couldn't stop the giggle from bubbling out her mouth. "A _makeover_? We're not in the 8th grade anymore."

"Ruby, we didn't even know each other in the eighth grade. Now, I don't want any arguments. We're going to give each other makeovers, wax our legs, pig out on junk food, and watch this." She grinned, pulling a Bio-Dome dvd out of her suitcase. "It wouldn't be a proper party without Pauly Shore."

Ruby raised her hand, a speculative look on her face.

"Yes, little girl in the front row?"

"Uh, there are two problems with your plan. One, we have no junk food to pig out on. Two, I'm pretty sure there's not a dvd player in this room."

Lauren bit her bottom lip, thinking for a moment. "We can fix that. Here," she tossed her wallet at Ruby. "Take this and go buy some snacks. I'm pretty sure there's a machine at the end of the hall. I'll go downstairs and ask the front desk if we can have a dvd player sent up. Then we'll meet back here and... PARTY TIME!" She lifted her arms in the air, twirling around a bit.

Lauren grinned and Ruby rolled her eyes. They propped the door open with a shoe and walked out of the room together.

* * *

Halvo sat downstairs, alone at the hotel's bar, downing his fourth jack and coke. Or maybe it was his fifth? Oh well, he didn't really care. His phone buzzed again in his pocket and he took it out, glaring down at the screen. "Incoming Call: JBo" He hit "ignore" for the 10th time. He wasn't in the mood to talk to Justin right now. Or Andrew. Or Nick. No matter how many times they called. They were probably just calling to yell at him again, anyways. Turning off his phone, he shoved it back into the pocket of his favorite leather jacket.

After sitting at the bar for another twenty minutes, he finally sighed. If the guys were going to make him miserable when he went back to the room, it wasn't like he was any less miserable here. He had to go back sometime. Eric reluctantly stood up. The room seemed to spin a little, but he blinked it away. And if he stumbled a time or two on his way to the elevator, well that wasn't such a big deal, was it?

When he finally reached room 432, he was pretty sure it was the right one.

"That's weird..." He muttered to himself, kicking the shoe that propped the door open out of the way. He closed the door and scanned the room, not seeing any of the guys. "Why would they just leave the door open? And they act like _**I'M**_ stupid." Eric did feel relieved that he wouldn't have to face the guys just yet, though.

He decided to take advantage of the empty room and go ahead and take a long shower. Hopefully it would relax him. So, walking into the bathroom, Halvo stripped off his clothes.


	3. Chapter 3

Ruby studied the snack machine thoughtfully, drawing her bottom lip between her teeth. "Hmmm… This is ridiculous. $2.50 for a candy bar." she muttered to herself. But, seeing as it was Lauren's money and not her own, she decided to splurge. With arms full of as many snacks as she could carry, she returned to the room, nudged the door open with her hip, and walked inside… Well, not exactly.

"Ow!" Ruby exclaimed, slamming into the locked door. "What the heck.." She looked down, seeing that the shoe had been moved and the door closed. Annoyed, she attempted to pile all the snacks into her left arm so her right was free to fish her room key out of her pocket. She was very nearly successful and only dropped one Kit Kat bar and a bag of white cheddar popcorn.

"Lauren!" She called as she walked inside. "Why did you lock the door when you knew I…" Ruby trailed off when she realized Lauren was nowhere to be seen. She was puzzled for a brief moment before her ears picked up the sound of the shower in the bathroom. She was a little confused as to why Lauren would be taking a shower right now, but she just shrugged and dumped her armload of food onto the bed next to Lauren's overturned suitcase. Her eyes spotted Lauren's iPod in the mess and she picked it up, popping the bright purple earbuds into her ears. Ruby smiled, clearing off a space to lay down, as the sound of We are Birds by Brighten filled her ears.

* * *

"Okay, thanks again-" Lauren paused a minute, her eyes dropping to read the boy's name tag then raising back to his face. "Kirk. I appreciate it." Tucking the dvd player under her arm, she bounded towards the elevator. She was impatient to get back to her room. Bio-Dome was pretty much her favorite movie. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally reached her room. She tried the door and her eyes narrowed when she realized it was locked. "Ruby, what the heck? You knew I didn't bring a key." She sighed, knocking on the door. After a few seconds, she knocked again, louder this time. "Okay, this is about to make me mad..."

* * *

Eric stepped into the steamy shower and sighed contentedly, his aching muscles finally beginning to relax. He let his head loll back and closed his eyes, letting the hot water pour over his face. He could just feel the tension leaking out of his body. After a moment, Halvo reached behind him to find his loofah, but it wasn't there. Puzzled, he looked around. "I could have sworn I put that in here when I was unpacking my suitcase..." He wondered if Andrew had moved it somewhere. He knew Andrew didn't like to travel with those. They creeped him out or something. "Those guys are so annoying." Eric muttered, deciding to start with his hair instead. He grabbed the small bottle of free shampoo and squeezed some into is palm. Working it into his hair, he began to massage his scalp in small, rhythmic circles.

It was at that moment that he was startled by a loud pounding. His hand slipped and he winced, getting soap in his eyes. It burned and he blinked, then squeezed them shut. Before he could remember they were covered in shampoo, he wiped his eyes with the back of his hands. "Ow, shit." He moaned as the burning intensified. And so did that damn pounding. Somebody was banging ferociously on the door to the room.

"Idiots must have forgotten to take a key..." Eric stumbled out of the shower, blindly feeling for something to wrap around himself. All he managed to grab was a small hand towel, but since the banging on the door was getting even louder, he guessed it would have to suffice. Holding the small towel over his groin, he called "I'm coming!" and stumbled out of the bathroom. The banging was even louder out here, and his head was beginning to ache. "Hold on! I'm coming!" Angrily, he flung the door open, growling "Jesus, you guys! I said I was--" Soapy hair plastered to his face and eyes still burning, he didn't immediately realize that it wasn't Nick, Justin, or Andrew he was yelling at. However, the shrill, shocked scream that rang out in the next second was definitely, unmistakably feminine.


End file.
